Circuit breaker



June 24, 1941'. w FRANK 2,247,193

CIRCUIT BREAKER Original Filed Jan. 11, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l June 24 1941. I w FRANK 2,247,193

CIRCUIT BREAKER Original Filed Jan. 11, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill ATTORNEY.

Patented June 24, 1941 omom'r BREAKER. William H. Frank, Detroit, Mich.

Original application January 11, 1937, Serial No.

119,931, now Patent Nd. 2,131,800, dated October 4, 1938.

Divided and this application July 5, 1938, Serial No. 217,632 a (or. 200-116) 7 Claims.

This application relates to circuit breakers and is a divisio of a prior application, Serial No. 119,931,, ed January 11, 1937, now Patent No. 2,131,800 of October 4, 1938.

The breaker and details of construction and means herein disclosed and forming the invention of this application may best be understood upon reference to the drawings.

In these drawings- Figs, 1-5 show a breaker having a spring means in the form of a link mounted compression spring; the handle connection end and the latch connection end are arranged to move in the same plane; the handle connection end moves with no extraordinary .radial movement away from the handle center of rotation.

Figures 1-5 These figures show a breaker wherein the spring means comprises a link mounted compression spring. The handle connection end of the breaker moves with no extraordinary radial latch connection end ,of the spring means held by the latch 22 and with the handle connection end l2 of the spring means held by the handle.

The linkage created by parts i I-I 2. and l2l is a toggle linkage, collapsed to one side of the center position or the imaginary line connecting points II and I5.

movement away from the handle pivot; and in the plane traversed by the latch connection end of the breaker.

A breaker handle I0 is shown as pivotally mounted in the casing or frame of the breaker on the pivot II and is pivotally connected at l2 When the handle is moved from normal on position (Fig. 1) to ofi position (Fig. 2), it reverses the toggle linkage ll-l2, l2-i5,,first stressing the spring means considerably and then permitting the stressed spring means to relieve itself suddenly of part of its stress for snap action, the spring means moving bodily about the latch held cross piece l5 or latch connection end of the spring means as a pivot to open the circuit.

If the parts are in on position (Fig. 1) and an overload arises to cause overload release of the latch 22, the latter warps to the left, and the stressed spring I! relieves itself of its spring stress suddenly, causing cross piece l5 to ride upwardly in slots l8, (Fig. 3) and thus causing the spring means to rotate about the handle conto a link 14 whose free end passes through a hole or slot in a cross piece l5 having its ends disposed in slots I6 formed in opposite sides of the casing. Surrounding the link 14 is an elongated compression spring H which, together with the link It, forms a spring means. Such spring means passes loosely through and loosely mounts an insulation block III to which is secured a movable contact i9 adapted to make with a stationary contact 20 and connected by a flexible connection 2| to a forked or slotted bimetal current responsive latch 22 whose ends 23 are formed to hook over the ends of the cross piece l5. Pivotally connected to the handle at the pivots 24 are the ends of resetting members 25 which have their free ends provided with pins 26 adapted to ride in slots 21 formedin the sides of the casing,

It will beunderstood that the link [4 .passes through the center portion of the cross piece l5:

that the tips 23 of the latch 22-straddle the link It and spring l1 and the center of the cross piece; and that the resetting members 25 are between the tips 23 and the sides of the casing.

Fig. 1 shows the breaker in on position with the spring means I! under lengthwise compressive stress and with the cross piece I! at the nection end I2 as a pivot to open the circuit. During such movement, handle ill will move slightly clockwise from the position of Fig, 1, with resetting members 25 urged upwardly, and will thus indicate trip.

For resetting, handle I0 is rotated from the tripped position (Fig. 3) towards the ofi" position (Fig. 2) thus causing the resetting members 25 to be pulled down;,these engage the cross piece I5 and force it to ride downwardly in the slots l6 until it is returned under tips 23 of the latch 22 which has in the meantime cooled and retumedto its normal position. When the parts are thus reset, they and the handle will be found to have assumed the off' position (Fig. 2).

It will be observed that during reset, the mov-' able contact does not pass through its circuit closing position, since as the connection latch end of thespring means moves towards its cir-.

cuit closing position the handle connection end thereof moves away from its circuit closing position.

It will be observed that the mating contacts 4 I8 and 20 are disposed within a barrier or well It will also be observed that the link ll, constituting a contact operating arm, is a unitary nonarticulated element and because of that fact, as well as because the latch 22 connects directly to it, without the intervention of an intermediate element, simplification of the construction is obtained.

It will be seen the switch or circuit breaker hereof has an operating characteristic generally similar to that disclosed in Patent No. 2,102,295 of December '14, 1937. The patented breaker, as well as the breaker hereof, is such that the spring provides butt contact pressure when the circuit is closed and at the same time provides a biasing force on the contact to shift it to opencircuit position in the event of a latch release. The spring also operates to' snap the contact to closed circuit position when the handle is moved to its closed circuit position and with each handle I movement the spring moves the contact with snap action when it crosses the center or the handle.

Further, the switch hereof is so constructed that while movement of the handle from the closed circuit position to the open circuit position pivot I l of stresses the spring, for the snap action movement of the-contact to the open circuit position, the

initial movement of the handle positively moves the movable contact away from the stationary contact without waiting for the spring to be stressed, and this characteristic distinguishes the switch or breaker hereof from the breaker shown in an application, Serial No. 320,120, filed February 21, 1940, which is a division of the instant application and in which a coiled tension spring mounting the contact is provided between the latch and the handle as distinguished from the instant construction where a link mounted compression spring connects the latch and the handle.

The construction herein disclosed is far simpler than the construction disclosed in the aforesaid patent, principally due to the fact that a simple link mounted compression spring I! is utilized instead of the complexarrang'ement of parts represented by the spring 21, and the operating arm 24-42-29 of the aforesaid patent.

It will also be observed that when the parts are in closed circuit position the spring tends to establish butt contact pressure. tendency results in a bias on contact IS in a direction tangential of the handle pivot Hand this has a component resulting in downward pressure on contact [9 against the stationary contact 20.

It will also be observed that the construction herein disclosed differs from that of the aforesaid patent in that the spring hereof mounts the contact and thus constitutes the switch arm.

The construction herein shown diifers from that employing a coiled tension spring, as disclosed in'the aforesaid divisional application, in that the spring means includes a link M as well as a spring ll; unlike the aforesaid tension spring construction which employs a spring only.

Now having described the devices herein shown, reference will be had to the claims which follow for a determination of the protection sought herein.

I claim:

1. A butt pressure contact circuit breaker including a movable butt contact, a stationary contact, a handle, and a circuit responsive latch, and a single spring means for butt pressing the movable contact against the stationary contact when Its expanding latch, and for producing snap movement of the movable contact following contact actuating movement of the handle, the spring means comprising a link mounted spring, one end of which directly connects to the handle, and the other end of which releasably connects to-the latch.

2. A butt pressure contact circuit breaker including a movable butt contact, a stationary contact, a handle, and a circuit responsive latch, and a single spring means for butt ressing the movable contact against the stationary contact when the parts are in circuit closed position, and for biasing the movable contact away from the stationary contact in the event of a releaseby the latch, and for producing snap movement of the movable contact following contact actuating movement of the handle, the spring means comprising a link mounted compression spring, one end of which directly connects to the handle,

'and the other end of which releasably connects to the latch.

3. A butt pressure contact circuit breaker in- 4. A butt pressure contact circuit breaker including a movable butt contact, a stationary contact, a handle, and a circuit responsive latch,

and a single spring means ior butt pressing the movable contact against the stationary contact when the parts are in circuit closed position, and tar biasing the movable contact away from the stationary contact in the event of a release by the latch, the spring means comprising a link -mounted compression spring, one end of which directly connects to the handle, and the other end of which releasably connects to the latch.

5. A circuit breaker including a stationary contact, a spring means in the form of a compres sion spring, a movable contact operatively connected thereto so as to be moved thereby, a handie directly connected to an end thereof so as to provide for manipulation thereof, a circuit responsive latch directly connected to another end thereof, the handle and the latch providing separate direct acting holding means for the spring means, the relation between the spring means, the latch, and the handle being such that on release of the latch the spring means moves around the handle connection thereto as a pivot without requiring movement of the handle so as to bias the contact to open circuit position, and on movement of the handle the spring means moves around the latch connection thereto as a pivot without moving the latch, so as to bias the contact to open circuit position, the points of connection between the handle and spring means and between the latch and spring means being spaced from each other, the movable contact connected to the butt against spring means biasing the movabiacontact ag the stationary contact when the circuit is cl 1 spring means being formed to the stationary contact, with the and the handle and latch hold the spring means. 6. In a circuit breaker controlling mechanism,

a stationary contact, a movable contact arranged to butt against the stationary contact, a spring means in the form of a compression spring operatively connected to the movable contact and arranged to bias it against the stationary contact when the spring meansis in normal stressed position, a circuit responsive latch directly connected to an end of the spring means for holding it under stress in normal contact biasing position, a rotatably mounted handle directly connected to an end of the spring means and manipulable by rotary movement out of its normal position to stress the spring means and move it bodily out of its normal position and towards the center of rotation of the handle so that when the handle is released after such movement the spring means will tend to relieve itself of its stress with a snap action, the relative arrangement of the parts being such that on such stress relieving movement of the spring means following such handle movement and subsequent release, the spring means will move bodily beyond the center of rotation of the handle and about the connection between the spring means and latch as a pivot, to move the movable contact away from; the stationary contact, and also being such that on release of the latch, when the handle and spring means are in normal position, the spring means will tend to relieve itself of its stress with a snap action and in so doing will move bodily about its connection to the handle as a pivot and to move the movable contact away from the stationary contact.

7. In a circuit breaker controlling mechanism,

v a stationary contact, a movable contact arranged to butt against the stationary contact, a spring means in the form of a compression spring operatively connected to the movable contact and arranged to bias it against the stationary contact when the spring means is in normal stressed position, a circuit responsive latch directly connected to an end of the spring means for holding it under stress in normal contact biasing position, a rotatably mounted handle directly connected to an end of the spring means and manipulable by rotary movement out of its normal position to stress the spring means and move it bodily out of its normal position and towards the center of rotation of the handle so that whenthe handle is released after such movement the spring means will tend to relieve itself of its stress with a snap action, the relative arrangement of the parts being such that on such stress relieving movement of the spring means following such handle movement and subsequent release, the spring means will move bodily beyond the center of rotation of the handle andabout the connection between the spring means and latch as a pivot, to move the movable contact away from the stationary contact, and also being such that on release of the latch, when the handle and spring means are in normal position, the spring means will tend to relieve itself of its stress with a snap action and in so doing will move bodily about its connection to the handle as a pivot, and to move the movable'contact away from the stationary contact, the handle and the spring means and the latch being so arranged relatively that the handle connection end of the spring means moves in a path radial of as well as circular of the handle center of rotation to a considerable extent.

' WILLIAM H. FRANK. 

